Many types of power tool form dust when used on workpiece materials. For example, cutting into drywall, tile, wood, stone, concrete, etc. can result in dust spread not only around the cut site, but also dust dispersed into the air and spread out into a larger surrounding area. Such accumulation of dust is undesirable, especially in otherwise finished workspaces, and generally results in the need for additional cleaning and finishing of the work area.
One technique for combating the accumulation of dust is to use a vacuum system such as a shop vacuum in order to manually vacuum away dust accumulated in a work place. Such vacuuming can be manually intensive, time consuming, and difficult since dust may have dispersed through the air over a wide area.
Another technique for combating the accumulation of dust is to reduce dust formed during use of a power tool by integrating a dust collection system into the power tool itself or as an attachment to the power tool. As the power tool is used, dust is collected as it forms in order to reduce an amount of dust that accumulates in the work place or that disperses through the air. In some cases, the dust collection system includes a vacuum that sucks dust from the workpiece as it is created. In other cases, such as in the Dust Vault attachment available from Rotozip® (Product No. DM10-10) the dust collection system includes a passive fan that operates in response to the use of the power tool to collect dust as it is formed. Such dust collection systems generally include a dust collection container configured to retain dust collected by the dust collection system. FIG. 1 illustrates a perspective image of a dust canister 10 used with the Dust Vault attachment. The canister 10 includes a cavity 12 with an opening 14. The cavity 12 is configured to retain dust collected by the dust collection system which enters the canister 10 via the opening 14. The opening 14 is configured to mount the canister 10 onto a power tool. At least a portion of the cavity 12 is defined by a filter 16 which enables air entering the cavity to escape while retaining dust therein.
Once the cavity 12 is filled to capacity, or alternatively if the filter 16 becomes clogged with dust so that air can no longer escape, the canister 10 can no longer be used to collect dust. Continued use of a power tool when the canister 10 is clogged or filled is generally similar to using the power tool with no dust collection system. A filled canister 10 can be replaced with a new canister, although this requires a constant availability of new canisters for continued work, which can be expensive and wasteful. A clogged canister 10 can be cleaned by banging the filter against a hard surface in order to dislodge dust, or by attempting to blow or brush dust off from the filter. Such cleaning methods are generally imprecise, and often result in the release and spread of dust into the air which the dust collection system was intended to reduce.
Therefore a technique for collecting dust accumulated during the use of a power tool that does not require manually vacuuming the work area or constantly replacing dust canister attachments would be beneficial.